Share via

He was the product of a violent society which taught him to rule through fear, writes his celebrated biographer

Saddam Hussein was never under any illusion about the consequences of losing his grip on Iraq. He once advised a relative of one of his victims to accept proferred compensation rather than waiting for revenge because, as he said: “If we ever lose power, there will not be a sliver of our flesh remaining by the time you get to us.”

The formalities of his execution, complete with lofty final statements about “sacrifice”, last meals and possibly even a final Cuban cigar, stand in some contrast to these grimly realistic expectations. He certainly didn’t grant such ceremony to his own